MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- State Rep. Allen Farley, vice chairman of the Legislature's prison oversight committee, said he thinks Gov. Robert Bentley should consider replacing Prison Commissioner Kim Thomas with someone who is not so deeply rooted in the troubled system.

Thomas started as a corrections officer in 1983 and has worked in DOC's legal department since 1995. Thomas was the department's general counsel when Bentley appointed him commissioner in 2011.

"I think if I were the governor, I believe I would find somebody that's got a background, not in defending the state in all the litigation, but find somebody that's got a background in training and keeping people safe," Farley said.

Farley, a Republican from McCalla, spent 36 years in law enforcement, including seven years as assistant sheriff in Jefferson County. He ran the Jefferson County jail in Bessemer from 2003 to 2010. He said he likes Thomas personally.

But Farley said somebody who has worked inside the system for so long might not hold wardens and others in the chain of command accountable for the kinds of problems alleged by the Department of Justice, the Equal Justice Initiative, Southern Poverty Law Center and others.

"I think they need a general," Farley said. "Maybe somebody who over the years hasn't become friends with wardens and lieutenants and captains."

Thomas responded to Farley's comments.

"I respect Rep. Farley," Thomas said. "But this is one of the cases where we have a difference of opinion. I still look forward to working with him and the task force and the legislative oversight committee and moving the criminal justice system and the Department of Corrections forward in a more positive, productive and efficient way."

"The governor has full confidence in Commissioner Thomas' ability to lead the Department of Corrections," Ardis said. "There are some serious issues in the prison system, and the governor is confident that Kim Thomas is the right leader to address the problems and help reform the system."

Thomas worked as a corrections officer, sergeant and classification specialist in St. Clair Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison, from 1983 to 1995. While working there, he attended Birmingham School of Law and received his degree in 1993. He became an assistant general counsel in DOC's Legal Division in 1995. He later served as general counsel under Commissioners Donal Campbell and Richard Allen before becoming commissioner.

Farley said that when he was in charge of the Jefferson County jail in Bessemer, Sheriff Mike Hale held him responsible for everything that happened there, and he held the supervisors who worked under him responsible.

He said the same standard should apply to state prisons.

"If it happens on your shift, I'm going to hold you responsible," Farley said. "If it happens in your facility, I'm going to hold you responsible."